Mennonites and Catholics make joint peace commitment

The Vatican’s Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Mennonite World Conference representatives who met in Rome in October 2007 to prepare theological reflections on peacemaking have made available the full statement and background material, reports...

Vatican commends greener summer holidays

As the summer holiday season draws near for many, the Vatican has issued a set of guidelines offering advice on how to make vacations more environmentally responsible and friendly. “One can choose to be a tourist at odds with the Earth or in favour of it,”...

Radical ex-bishop ends one party rule in Paraguay

A former Catholic bishop who has campaigned vigorously for the poor has won Paraguay’s presidential election to end more than 60 years of monopoly rule by the party that once backed vicious dictator General Alfredo Stroessner. Fernando Lugo Mendez won nearly 41...

Ask tough questions about religion, says Vatican cardinal

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, has said religions should be prepared to ask difficult questions and he asserts it is unrealistic to live as if there was only one global faith –...

Vatican seeks broad-based global exchange with Muslims

Officials from the Vatican and senior Muslims are holding a two-day meeting in Rome this week, with the intention of laying the foundations for a major global Catholic-Islamic exchange later in 2008. Five senior figures from each faith are defining the terms of a...